Medical Student
University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine
Ruby Hawks, MSIII, is a medical student at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. She is particularly interested in reproductive and maternal health, community-based care delivery, and improving maternal health outcomes and barriers to care in rural and resource-limited settings. Through the Frontier and Rural Medicine (FARM) Program, she recently completed her core clinical training at a rural hospital, where she deepened her commitment to serving rural and Indigenous communities.
In addition to her clinical interests, Ruby is engaged in research focused on medical student learning, including supplemental instruction models and peer-supported education. Her experiences in patient advocacy, interprofessional collaboration, and medical education leadership have shaped her belief that effective healthcare requires both strong clinical skills and systems-level thinking.
Ruby hopes to build a career as a physician that centers compassion, advocacy, and community partnership, and she is motivated by the opportunity to improve health equity while supporting the education and well-being of future medical trainees.